Chapter 303: Chapter 303: Since when did our family become so poor? Part1
Ethan materialized within the Blackwood residence.
It was bustling, more prosperous than ever, practically overflowing with psychic energy.
The energy vein beneath their home was on the verge of reaching the seventh-grade, further enhanced by countless formations and artifacts designed to gather and amplify psychic energy.
The Primordial Bloodwood had returned to its original location, its form restored to its full glory.
Having reached its current level of cultivation, it could now draw psychic energy directly from the heavens and the earth.
Every few years, when the mood struck it, the Primordial Bloodwood would shower the land with its crimson snow, a boon to every psychic in Glory City.
Those fortunate enough, especially those at the Foundational Energy level, could even break through their bottlenecks from its energy alone.
As a tree spirit, the Primordial Bloodwood possessed an incredibly long lifespan, easily tens of thousands of years.
Thanks to the Primordial Bloodwood's generosity, eighty percent of Glory City's 230,000 residents were now psychics.
Glory City had become a sacred place, revered throughout Cloudview County.
Upon arriving at the residence, Ethan raised an eyebrow.
The Blackwood clan was gathered in the main hall, engaged in a heated discussion.
The topic?
"Since when did our family become so poor?"
Julian, the muscular, bald giant, sat sprawled on the floor, clinging to Nathan's leg and wailing dramatically.
"Father, I beg you, just a little more material! I'm so close! Once I forge a sixth-grade psychic puppet, I can break through to the Competent Force stage! I'm almost two hundred years old, my hair is turning white! If I don't break through soon, I'll die of old age!"
"..."
The younger generation of Blackwoods exchanged amused glances.
Did he even have any hair to turn white?
As Julian's cries subsided, Amelia chimed in, counting on her fingers.
"Three hundred... five hundred... just two thousand more years, and my sixth-grade spirit herbs will be ready in that hidden realm up north. Then I can finally refine my sixth-grade spirit pills!"
"We're truly out of resources," Nathan said, his face grim.
Although he had spent the past few years cultivating in the Death Coffin, he had heard tales of his children's insatiable hunger for materials.
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They had scoured every major power in Cloudview County, but their demands were exorbitant, always insisting on materials of the seventh-grade or higher.
Now, the mere mention of their names sent shivers down the spines of even the most powerful figures.
It wasn't just Cloudview County.
They had ransacked Starlight County, Clearwater County, even venturing into Druid territory beyond the Azure Cloud border, claiming every high-grade material they could find.
Yet, they were like bottomless pits, their appetites insatiable.
Amelia, in particular, was notorious for her extravagant use of rare and precious ingredients, often squandering them on experimental concoctions.
With a sigh, Nathan tossed his storage ring to his children.
"We're truly strapped for resources. See for yourselves."
The siblings' faces fell as they peered into the ring.
It was as he said.
Apart from a mountain of energy stones and a vast arsenal of ability weapons, the ring was practically empty.
The younger generation, observing their elders' predicament, remained unconcerned.
They knew the true extent of the family's wealth.
They had seen the treasure vault with their own eyes.
As long as they completed their missions or achieved something noteworthy, they could request anything they needed from the vault through Azure Dragon.
And every time they visited the vault, it seemed to be even more overflowing than before, brimming with formation disks, cultivation techniques, pills, psychic puppets, talismans... it was a treasure trove beyond their wildest dreams.
As the family grappled with their predicament, Marcus, who had been unusually quiet, spoke up, his voice laced with resentment.
"Grandfather, aunts, uncles, we still have the Sunshine Clan to deal with."
The mention of the Sunshine Clan cast a pall over the room.
The air crackled with unspoken anger.
Ethan's eyes narrowed.
The Blackwood's rise to power over the past decade had not been without its challenges.
Their relationship with the Sunshine Clan was particularly strained.
...
Within the Psychic Sanctuary, a secluded space Amelia had created within Iron Forest Horse, lay a 'Heavenly Rejuvenation Jade Bed'.
This artifact, acquired from Duke Jones of Starlight County at a hefty price in energy stones, was a marvel of craftsmanship, capable of healing even the most grievous wounds.
A psychic at the Foundational Energy level could recover from near-fatal injuries with just a few days of rest on the jade bed.
Even those at the Emerging Ability level could expect a full recovery within a couple of months.
At that moment, two figures lay upon the bed.
One was a woman of unparalleled beauty, her features unmistakable: Diana, the Demon Lord of the Abyss.
Beside her lay a man, his handsome face framed by thick, dark eyebrows, his bearing radiating an air of unconscious arrogance even in repose.
Lucas... his bare chest bore a long, jagged scar, the wound still raw but instead of blood, it oozed a faint black mist.
[Your descendant, Lucas, while intercepting a Basic Mastery psychic from the Crimson Gate Syndicate attempting to enter Cloudview County alongside the Celestial Star Swordmaster, was gravely wounded. He was saved by the timely intervention of Owen and Daoist Bill.]
This incident had transpired two years prior.
Over the past decade and a half, Cloudview County had become a place of unique significance.
Any Basic Mastery psychic who dared to trespass would be swiftly detected by Daoist Bill.
The Blackwoods, too, had been proactive, actively recruiting powerful cultivators from across the Emerald Empire and even assisting the Heavenly Justice Hall in escorting captured criminals back to Cloudview County to bolster their defenses.
The incident with Lucas occurred when he and the Celestial Star Swordmaster returned from the Sunshine Clan's territory with a group of cultivators from a Competent Force level sect.
The sect's patriarch, enraged by their actions, had pursued them relentlessly.
Lucas and the Celestial Star Swordmaster, never ones to back down from a challenge, had met the patriarch head-on.
However, they were no match for his overwhelming power and were swiftly defeated.
Fortunately, the Crimson Gate Syndicate patriarch had spared Lucas's life.